Shrimps Got Claws
by DoctorWhodunit
Summary: It's hard to be a small person, you always get picked on and people can make fun of you easily and in many different ways. However, 15-year-old Levy McGarden has had enough and decided that she would not be the one people make fun of anymore, it was time to boost her self-esteem. A daring and sassy Levy slowly awakens. High School AU. Series of interconnected oneshots.
1. A Shorty's Resolve

As a small person, Levy McGarden had to face a lot of problems when she was young. Always getting picked on by other kids, her self-esteem started to wane. The fact that she was considered a nerd did not help her case; in 6th grade, ignorant and snobbish kids would bully her and tell her to stop reading kids' books. She tried to make them understand that kids' books weren't as dumb as they thought they were but they would never listen, making fun of her small height proved to be more interesting.

Years flew by – well, limped by – and her parents decided to move to another city for financial reasons. Coincidentally, the angry hormones from puberty started to kick in, at last. At 15, it was about time that she did something about her lack of sass when it came to mean or idiotic comments about her height. About _damn_ time, she thought.

The first thing she wanted to fix as soon as possible was an occurrence that usually happened outside – if it happened inside, seriously, they were doing it on purpose. When you're a short person, or worse, when you're short _and_ a girl, people tend to look over your head. Literally. They don't pay much attention to things or people that could be below them, and they bump into you and often say 'Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there' or 'Oh, sorry, I'm in a hurry'. _Stupid and inconsiderate tall people._ It didn't take her a long time to get the habit of _avoiding_ people, quickly sliding to the side, or even contorting her body as she walked in crowded areas.

 _No more!_

She had read some articles about self-esteem and confidence in public in the past few days, and the thing that came up a lot was that the way a person walked could change how a random stranger judged the said person. She had to change her overall gait. She had to make herself stand out more. Head high, eyes staring straight ahead, shoulders a tiny bit higher, slightly longer steps, and everything should be good.

She had studied the theory for far too long, and today was the day she decided to use everything she had learned. Since moving from a city to another had taken a lot of time and effort, and since she had already registered for high school, she took this opportunity to properly visit the city she was in. She liked it there, even though her parents had said they were moving for financial reasons, this neighbourhood felt much nicer.

Levy started with the rather large park a few minutes away from her new home. It had a nice smell to it, people looked friendly and the sun was out. It was a bright beautiful day.

Following the instructions from the articles she read, strolling around the garden felt more pleasant, her new gait gave her confidence and she couldn't help but smile at people passing by. A few minutes after stepping into the park, a common yet new obstacle had to be overcome.

A rather tall boy was walking right towards her. If she didn't focus so much on _not_ avoiding him, she would have internally commented on how handsone she thought he looked. It wasn't like she wanted to start a fight or anything, she just wanted him to step out of her way 'Beware the beast' style – or beware the 5ft tall blue cactus, as her parents would call her.

Levy held her ground and marched on. She was not going to back down at such a crucial moment.

Three seconds before impact. _He's definitely going to step aside, he probably already saw me by now._

Two seconds. _Wow, he really is tall. 20 centimeters taller maybe. Tanned skin. Oh, long and kinda spiky hair. Nice._

One. _Okay, he's going to shift his body at the last second and I won't even have to do a thing. Do not worry. Everything is fine._

 **...**

 _For heaven's sake!_

They bumped into each other, and being the shortest and obviously the weakest of the two, Levy almost flew backwards. She would have loved to say that their heads collided, but no they didn't, her face just crashed into his chest. As for the tall boy, he almost tripped but managed to prevent Levy from falling by holding on to her frail arms.

The startled Levy shook her head and after two seconds of _not moving_ , the tall boy released his grip on her arms when he made sure she wasn't dangerously leaning backwards anymore. He stared down at her with seemingly dead eyes for two other seconds, then proceeded to roll them.

"Dammit, you coulda looked where you were going, shorty," the boy hissed. His voice was rather rough but didn't sound threatening at all.

"Huh!?" Her eyes opened wide, clearly offended by the fact that _he_ was the one complaining. "I looked where I was going and you still bumped into me," she retorted.

She could feel her cheeks turning red. _Stupid complexion_. It was a mix of surprise and anger, something that never really happened before. She didn't know if it was something she was supposed to be happy about since it meant that her character changed and that she wasn't putting with anybody's shit anymore, or if she was supposed to be afraid because this kind of attitude could get her in trouble. At this precise moment, she wasn't scared, she secretly enjoyed it, a kind of high overflowed her body.

"If ya knew where ya were going ya wouldn't have bumped into me!" He growled.

Levy's eyes widened, only to promptly go back to a blank expression. She blinked, then facepalmed. _Okay, that might have hurt a little bit._ She stared at him with dead eyes through the openings between her fingers. "Well, if _you_ knew where _you_ were going, _you_ wouldn't have bumped into me either, _idiot_."

She froze. _Did I just do that? Did I just say that?_ She was petrified, she may have overdone it. A sudden chill ran down her spine as she scrutinized his every movements, trying to get ready for what he might to do her.

His answer to this insult consisted in an intense glare, she could even have sworn his eyes turned red. It was probably the adrenaline though. His frown deepened and he took a step forward, not to make himself look even taller in front of her, but apparently to take a closer look at her face. With his hands in the back pockets of his black pants, he bent over and cocked his head to the side as if he was examining the visible part of her face that was not hidden by the palm of her hand. And after a few seconds of perfect stillness... he showed a toothy smile.

"Geehee, headstrong, I like that!" He blurted. He regained his tall stature, crossed his arms in front of him and laughed, eyes closed, immaculate teeth showing.

Levy stepped back and her hand slipped away from her face to reveal a confused frown. A radiant glow surrounded his face, he was all she could see – because his tall figure hid the sun behind his head.

He smirked. "What's your name, shorty?"

 _'Headstrong, I like that'._ "Don't call me shorty," she answered simply..

He snorted. "Alright, what's your name?" He repeated, for some reason, he seemed to hide his impatience.

Her mouth drew a pleased lopsided smile on her now relaxed face. "Levy. My name's Levy." It was the first time a stranger she had just literally bumped into asked her name, she was delighted but showed nothing.

Despite everything, she didn't want to appear too friendly so she thought about something. She reached in her purse, pulled out her phone and put it just below her face.

"What's _your_ name?" She asked, an innocent smile painting her face.

He quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh, someone's not wasting time, huh?" He bit his lower lip and followed it with a playful smile. "Gajeel. Gajeel Redfox."

"Okay."

 **Click!**

Gajeel Redfox's eyes widened and his mouth dropped. "What the f- Did you j-j-just take a picture of me!?" He stuttered, pointing a finger at her because of how deeply offended and scared he got. Levy was delighted, and she showed it, it was her turn to show her toothy smile.

"Geehee," she mimicked, "I'll file a complaint for street harassment, I have your name and your picture, you'll get caught in no time." Her tone was threatening and playful, and for the first time in her life, she looked up at someone while knowing that she had the advantage. What a feeling that was.

"Are you kidding me!? That wasn't street harassment!" He argued, wide eyes filled with denial.

She quirked an eyebrow. "You _push_ me, _grab_ me, then proceed to shamelessly hit on me? Seems like street harassment to me."

"Hey! You're twisting the story here. That ain't wha-"

"Sure," she interrupted, "I'm sure the police will believe you," she seemed to concede, but her lopsided smile said something else entirely. Levy didn't give him the time to talk back. "Well, I'm gonna go now," she cocked her head to the side and offered him a cheeky smile, "it was a pleasuure to talk to you."

"Wha-"

"Oh, and don't try to follow me, it's useless. Look around you, plenty of witnesses, it would only help me get you into more trouble than you're already in."

And on those words, without letting him say anything for the third time, she turned her back and simply walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Gajeel Redfox behind her.

A few steps away from him now, Levy couldn't hear him following her. Her threat had apparently done the trick. She didn't bend her back because she thought he was still looking at her, but she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and let her shoulders relax. A long and tired sigh escaped her mouth. _Relief, at last._ She could not believe she managed to put on this act for this long.

Technically, it wasn't a victory, he still bumped into her, she was still short and he didn't pay attention to her at first. Nonetheless, she didn't back down, she stayed awfully cool the whole time, and she managed to get out of this situation with blinding brilliance. It wasn't the victory she had wanted at first, it was a victory that was much better.

Proud of herself, she smirked. And so did he.

Gajeel Redfox knew that filing a complaint to the police station for something so trivial wouldn't lead to anything. As for Levy McGarden, she knew she would see him again. Indeed, she saw him when she registered for high school, he was just in front of her. He even bumped into her shoulder when he was done. He didn't apologize, he didn't even see her.

A few days later, in this park, he could do nothing but see her. She knew it, and it was such a satisfying feeling.

 _And now the cherry on top, let's go out with a bang_. Her smirk didn't leave her. Still walking away and without turning around, she slipped a hand in her pocket and lifted the other up in the air. "See ya, Gajeel Redfox!"

 _How's that for a shorty?_

* * *

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! :). As a short person myself, I felt like it was my duty to write about Levy's potential height problems. This was the first chapter of a loose series of interconnected oneshots. I don't know yet if I will add an actual plot as I go along, but for now, the next chapters will focus on specific moments of her life as a small high schooler. Please, tell me what you thought of this chapter and if you'd like me to continue with this in the reviews :). And if you have some suggestions or prompts that could help me write other chapters focusing on a problem short people have, just tell me, I'll be glad to try and work on them! :)**


	2. Mall Troubles

With her parents out of town and with school about to start soon, Levy had to buy her school supplies on her own. It was something new, she had not expected that. Fear was not the right word to describe the feeling she had about this trip to the mall. _Apprehension_ was more accurate. To go to the mall on her own for basic stuffs? Sure, no problem. To go to the mall to buy quite a good load of school supplies? That was something else entirely.

Deep breath taken and headband fixed, Levy stepped into the mall. Obviously, it was crowded, she soon realized she wasn't the only one to buy her school supplies a few days before the start of the new school year.

The apprehension was justified earlier when she hadn't found outside what she was looking for. However, the arrows on the wall near the entrance swept her bad thought away. She followed the arrows and wondered why this mall was designed that way. She thought it was probably because those things were easy to steal outside, though it wouldn't matter much since people had to go outside with them anyway. The arrows led to a wide open door and her eyes finally landed on what she was looking for.

Her hazel eyes lit up. "Thank common sense for shopping carts," she sighed in relief.

She slid a coin in the slot and rolled the shopping cart out of the room that was apparently dedicated to them. In her opinion, they were were one of the best inventions made in the history of marketing, a lot more useful than mere shopping bags. With shopping carts, you could carry a lot of products without cramping your arms or bruising your fingers, the wheels made the shopping experience way better. The most important thing about them, though, was that _people could not fail to see her._ Even if they didn't directly see her, they knew she was there somewhere, those shopping carts just couldn't move on their own. If people bumped into her, it was really because they did it on purpose.

And off she went! The feeling of people stepping aside as they saw the shopping cart coming through was just as satisfying as the one she had when she faced this Gajeel Redfox that one time. Speaking of, she wondered if they would be in the same class. The day she registered was the one dedicated to the freshmen of this high school, so it was a possibility. She didn't dwell on this thought for too long though, she had plenty of things to buy first.

The first thing she always looked for when buying school supplies was a notebook. It had to be a special one, preferably with a quote on the cover. It didn't necessarily have to be pretty, as a matter of fact, Levy liked old paper. She liked it when certain books were a bit dusty with the corners of some pages torn off; second-hand books were beautiful to her, it showed that they had lived, that they were loved at least once before, and if they weren't, she would love them instead.

She wandered back and forth in the notebook section and opted for a rather plain one, just because the quote spoke to her. She took it from one of the lower shelves, it was rough at the touch. She didn't bother to look inside, she liked surprises. The cover was plain black with a quote written in white on it. She grazed the embossed characters and couldn't stop her face from painting a melancholic smile; she whispered to herself, "All was well." Memories of a wizarding school, evil-destroying teenagers, and long reading nights under her blanket with a dim light on flew to her mind at golden snitch speed, leaving her with a peaceful smile as she gently laid it in the shopping cart.

Her next spendings were trivial to her, she didn't pay much attention to them. Copybooks, sheets of paper, a ruler, a rubber, pens, a pencil case, duct tape... and so on. Nothing interesting. It took her longer than usual to gather everything she needed since it was her first time going in this mall. After a little less than an hour of going from one point to another and calculating if she didn't step over the limit of money she could spend, one last thing was to be bought.

A special pen.

She always bought the pen last. Yes, she had taken pens a few minutes before, but she saved another pen for last. It was a habit of hers, the pen she will buy last will automatically become her favourite. And she had spotted it. Then again, it didn't have anything special, just a pen that had the same colour as her dyed hair. She thought she could have a good grip on it, and that it was easier for her to write with this pen on any surface. Above all, she just _felt_ it was made for her.

There was one problem though, the pen sat on the higher shelves, she couldn't reach it. She moved her shopping card aside and tried to jump to get it; she failed.

She cracked her knuckles and tried to climb on the shelves to get it; she failed, and almost slipped, which earned her some amused looks by a couple passing by.

 _Jerks._

Knowing that she would never be able to do it alone, she resigned and started to look around to find some gentle soul that could help her. It took her a bit less than two seconds to realize what her eyes had locked on; he looked familiar to her, because he was, a tall and long-haired boy, Gajeel Redfox.

She didn't know why but seeing him made her smile lightly, she couldn't help it, not that she tried to. She also couldn't help noticing how much this black tank top complimented his toned body, making his biceps look more sharply drawn, his upper body look a bit curvier, and God, she just noticed how much his fingers-

 _Ugh, shut up, stupid hormones._

He didn't seem to have noticed her, she thought he was probably preoccupied by what he wanted to buy by the way he looked around the shelves of the aisle they were in, it was probably why he didn't notice that he was walking straight to her at an alarming speed.

Three seconds before impact. _I'll just wave at him, he'll notice me._

Two seconds. _Wait a minute._ Barely noticeable, a crooked smile appeared on his face. _Is he doing this on purpose?!_

One. _For heaven's sake! He's going to bump into me again! Please, don't do it!_

 **...**

 _Fool me once._

At the very last second, she shifted her whole body to the right so that Gajeel Redfox bumped into nothingness. Well, he didn't bump into nothingness, his feet got caught in the leg that Levy left at the spot where her body was half a second before. His eyes grew larger as he tripped over her leg, only managing to pull a hand out of his pocket to cushion his fall so his face didn't crash on the floor. A grunt escaped his mouth as he landed unscathed on the hard ground.

Levy just smiled, but she was a bit worried nonetheless, she didn't want to hurt him or anything; to be honest, she didn't think he would fall.

Still on the ground, he rubbed the back of his head, turned around and stayed in a kneeling position to face Levy with an annoyed look on his face.

"Tch, ya really didn't have to do that," he groaned, wiping some dust off of his hands.

Her eyes widened without any expression. "Oh, sorry, didn't see you there." _Wow, so that's how that feels, huh? Nice!_

Gajeel repressed a laugh. "I'm gonna file a complaint for physical abuse," he hissed, hiding a playful smile with a brush of his thumb on his lips.

She quirked an eyebrow, playing the game. "Yeah? Try me."

As Gajeel was about to retort, Levy's eyes shot up and down in a heartbeat. She winced and her pupils dilated, clearly knowing what she was going to run after in about two seconds. Gajeel frowned at her, wondering why she wasn't moving for a moment.

"What?" He asked, confused by the now confident look in her eyes.

"Look at how you're kneeling," she started, "it just looks like you're about to propose? Who's the lucky one? Is it me?" She dared to ask, with the most playful smile she had ever displayed in front of someone she only met twice.

This remark alone made him slightly embarrassed, just slightly, but slightly enough to make him look down at his knee on the ground. Indeed, it looked like he was proposing, and he immediately thought about standing up. However, this idea got cut short by an unexpected foot appearing in his field of vision.

Her dashing figure looked determined as she sprung up on him. Her fast steps almost had no sound because of the smoothness of her way of running, at least this was what he felt as he witnessed Levy leap onto his knee and into the air. Gajeel could only gaze up as the majestic bluebird winged the air; soaring above him made her floating deep orange dress change into a more refined one, making her even more slender. He noticed the confident smile on her face, and he would never admit how blown away he was by this display of aerial supremacy. His mouth opened ever so slightly as she spread her wings to snatch the special pen she desired for so long, dropping her previously confident smile to a light smirk as she retracted her wings, landing quietly on the floor.

Agape and still kneeling, Gajeel gave Levy a blank stare while she adjusted her dress, unaware of the rough-looking boy's eyes awed by her prowess. When she finished, she directed her gaze to him, to which he automatically answered with his eyes darting down the ground, faking to brush some dust off of his knee. A few seconds later, after a deep breath taken, he rose up and looked back at Levy with normally expressive eyes.

He glanced up at the spot where the pen used to be. "That was... nice," he observed, without exactly looking at her.

Levy's cheeks grew bigger when she heard his last word. "Nice?" She frowned, obviously offended by his understatement. "Nice?! Really? It was more than _just nice!_ "

Still without looking at her, Gajeel made a pout with his lips and proceeded to turn his back on her. "Yeah, whatever."

She blinked in confusion , eyes set on his back- a back that was slowly going to be out of her sight. She told herself in a low voice, "Wait, what?" She blinked again in confusion, but she decided to voice her confused thoughts a little louder. "Wait!"

He didn't stop walking away but he did slow down, giving her enough time to catch up with him without running.

"What's wrong?" She asked the question with a voice a little more high-pitched than usual. Walking by his side, Levy gave him a look full of suspicion... and a bit of worry, somehow.

Gajeel stopped. He closed his eyes and filled his lungs with new air- he hoped it to have more oxygen. "Okay!" He exclaimed, startling her. "How would ya react if I asked you if I could help ya buy your stuffs?" His voice sounded annoyed, and even _he_ didn't know if he had faked that or not.

Her face went from startled to interested in a matter of seconds. Two seconds exactly. "Oh?" She smirked, and he was surprisingly used to it by now. "Are you trying to redeem yourself from the street harassment you inflicted upon me last time?"

"Alright! _That_ wasn't street harassment, you know that. And I didn't say I'd do it, it's just a hypothetical."

She did one of her favourite moves, she quirked an eyebrow. "Hypothetical. Five syllables. Nice!" She rejoiced, repressing a laugh with her hand.

"Shaddup."

"Well," she started, "to answer your question, I would be cool with that. Thing is, I already bought everything so you wouldn't help much."

Gajeel frowned at her. "What d'ya mean? All I can see is your pen. It's for school right? You're tellin' me you're only gonna use a pen?"

"Huh? What are y- My shopping cart!"

Her heels heated the floor as she spinned and stormed out of a speechless and slightly amused Gajeel's field of vision. She managed not to slip when she turned to the right, in the aisle where her shopping cart still was. _Thank goodness._ She briefly stopped and looked if anything was missing, and a sigh of relief came out of her mouth when she realized everything was still in there. With a relaxed mind, she took a hold of her shopping cart and started to go back to where Gajeel was, only to slow down halfway through. She asked herself how she could have been so distracted, it was not like her to just forget about such a thing. She didn't dwell on it as her eyes met Gajeel's; she 'meh'ed the thought away and caught up to him.

Gajeel eyed her with a 'Really?' look and couldn't repress a snort of laughter. "You forgot a whole shopping cart full of school supplies."

Levy's cheeks grew bigger to let out an annoyed sigh. "Okay, it wasn't my fault!"

"You gon' tell me it's mine, right?"

"Yes, it's yours!"

He rolled his eyes. "Here we go again."

"It's true," she argued, "I would not have forgotten it if you hadn't weirdly run away after I took my p- Oh."

"I didn't run away! I just-" He stopped and noticed her shut eyes filled with forgetfulness. "What? What's happenin' now?"

"Turn around and don't look at me."

"What the- Why?!"

She pressed her lips together and looked down as her cheeks started to turn red. "Please, turn around, I have to do something and it can't wait."

"And why do I have to turn around?"

"..."

"...Fine," he sighed, crossing his arms and turning his back to her.

She drew a small satisfied smile on her face and turned her back as well. She reached for the pen she had previously put in her shopping cart and breathed calmly.

"Okay," she said under her breath, "we're in the middle of a combat zone so we'll have to do the quick version." She held the still packed pen up to her torso with both hands under it and officially whispered the following words. "As you are the pen I will first use in this new institution that is high school, I, Levy Mcgarden, dub thee favourite pen of mine."

One of her strangest quirks held a special meaning in her heart, and it could be heard by the seriousness in her tone of voice as she declared the importance this pen was going to have in her high school life. It wasn't superstition, it was just a particular ritual she needed to have sometimes.

Behind Levy, Gajeel still had her back on her but couldn't stop fidgeting. "Giahahahaha," he snorted, and Levy's eyes immediately widened. "You're headstrong and also hella weird!"

Her fingers tensed around the now favourite pen of hers. "H-how did you even hear me?! I was whisper- That's not the point! It's not 'hella weird" as you say, it's a ritual I like to do, and I'm used to it." She turned around to face him. "And you-"

Gone.

He was gone.

She frowned in confusion, agape. With her hands gripping her shopping cart, she started to look for him, but it only lasted about ten seconds after she called his name three times.

"Okay, I'm leaving then," she muttered. She had the tendency of talking under her breath when she was alone, and especially when she was frustrated.

"I'm not going to look for him, why would I do that anyway?" Full of pride, she walked towards the cash registers. Her pride dulled suddenly when she realized something. "Wait... am I playing hard to get? Is it what I'm doing?"

Her wide eyes and tension of her neck bringing the ends of her lips down were a testament to how disgusting this thought was to her. When she moved to this city, she vowed to be true to herself and do and say whatever _she_ wanted to do. And now, she was playing hard to get. _It must be a mistake,_ she thought.

"No, it's not that. And we're probably going to see each other at school anyway. I'm not going to chase after him now, it's probably just what he wants me to do..."

 _...But it's also what I want to do too, it'd be so much fun..._

* * *

 **A/N: Small people can have a hard time in a mall, but Levy really knows how to attract even more trouble, huh? The leaping Levy part actually happened to me so I really wanted to put it in this chapter xD. I hope you had as much fun reading this chapter as I did writing it! Please, tell me what you thought about it :). Oh, and yes, Levy will enter high school in the next chapter.**


	3. First Day (part 1)

**A/N: I am so sorry for such a late update, I don't even know if you guys that have been following this story still care about it. Life and college happened and I haven't had time to focus on writing. Next week will be my last week of Finals so hopefully I will update more often after that. Anyway, without further ado, here is the third chapter, hope you like it! :)**

* * *

"Sigh, just give me a kiss already."

Levy's parents' demanding eyes transformed into a satisfied breathy smile. Her mother dropped a gentle kiss on her cheek, and her father had to lean in and hold her shoulder to kiss her on the other cheek. They could be seen as clingy but, given the struggles she had to face during her childhood, it always seemed natural for them to be all loving and protective.

"Got everything ready?" her mother asked.

"Yep! Head, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes!" she sang, and mildly kicking the air to turn around so she could face the door, she pointed behind her back with a thumb over her shoulder, "And see? Even my backpack is ready!"

"You spunky brat," they sighed fondly.

As if trying to look at her parents even though her back was turned to them, she bent over backwards ever so slightly and showed them a cheeky smile. "Wonder who I got that from."

Her parents glanced at each other and smiled. "It took a while to kick in," she chuckled as she looked back at her, letting a finger slide around a watery eye.

Levy's wide cheeky grin and delighted eyes faded to make way for a lightly crooked smile and eyes filled with melancholy, with a hint of pride and success to them. "I know," she whispered, opening the door.

"Be safe, enjoy your first day!"

She bubbled at the sound of this, 'first day', everything will be different. She had never thought of the 'New year, new me!' saying until this very moment. No matter how cliché it sounded, it did reach her. A brand new start for a brand new Levy – well, not brand new. Deep down, she believed that she hadn't changed, she just... revealed herself. She had come such a long way; how freeing that felt.

"I will!" she beamed, turning her head around to let them see how excited she was, "I'm going now!"

She closed the door behind her, and headed straight to her new high school: Fiore High.

* * *

"Sorry, just passing through!"

A crazy amount of people were stacked at the entrance of the school, all trying to have a look at the boards where the names of the new high schoolers were supposed to be, along with the room they have to gather at.

After struggling to get through a big amount of loud and rambunctious people blocking her way, she finally found the board which had people whose last name started with an M. She put a finger on it, slid it down and quickly found her name.

"Levy McGarden, here I am," she muttered. She glanced at the right part of the board and her look went from neutral to exasperated. "E building, room 404."

She froze in front of the board for a few seconds as if she had just shut down; memories of her father's jokes popped up in her mind. She had to walk out of this big room to process what she just read.

"If this is another stupid geek joke I am so gonna be hating my life."

As she usually said, her father 'works with computers', and he developped quite a geeky sense of humour that sometimes got on to his daughter, much to her annoyance. Over the years, she started to find some of his jokes rather funny and she despised herself for it. _Ew, dad jokes._

Shaking those awful thoughts off with a flick of her finger on her forehead, she headed to her assigned building. She had to twist her way around a couple of times because of the large mass of people on back-to-school day, but it was nothing she never experienced before. Weight-shifting, body flexibility, carioca steps; she became a master in the art of, as she called it, not bumping into basically everyone and everything ever.

After a few minutes of this ordeal, a.k.a. people, which pretty much became a routine at this point in her fifteen years of life, she managed to reach her building. She gave a look at the signs hanging on the walls and noticed that her room was on the fourth floor. _Figures._ A sound that ressembled that of a crying sea lion expressed her despair at the mere thought of climbing those flights of stairs. Luckily enough, she spotted an elevator at the end of the corridor and walked to it. Sure, she wasn't really supposed to ride it, but she wouldn't in her right mind climb all of those stairs at once.

"Am I rebelling?" she asked herself with a chuckle as she stepped into the elevator.

She pressed the button leading to the fourth floor. This gave her time to stretch and take deep breaths, she couldn't deny that first days were stressful to her even though she knew that first days would not shape her whole high schoool experience and that first impressions were almost always flawed. With the elevator reaching its final destination, Levy glanced at her favourite dress just in case she had dirtied it by passing through that many people, straightened her headband and readjusted the little flower next to it. She was ready. And the door opened.

"Talk about an anti-climactic moment," she bluntly said as she walked out of the elevator, witnessing how bland and unpopulated the corridor was. "I guess elevator opening scenes are overrated," she sighed.

In a blink of an eye, her disappointment ran away to let her attention get caught by the rambunctious students storming out of the staircase and heading to their respective room. This uproar made her notice two things: First, the amount of people with dyed hair in this building was off the charts; she loved it. And second, she _still_ hadn't moved away from the elevator to get to her room.

"Right, room 404!"

Levy looked to her right and then to her left and she understood that her room was on the right side of the elevator. The rooms with an even number seemed to be on the right side of the elevator and the rooms with an odd number were on the left side of it. Shrugging off the thought of how weird this layout was, her heels turned in direction of her assigned room.

Her room was just a few steps away from the elevator and it took her only seconds to get to it. '404' was written in red and yellow on a nice wooden door, but the only thing she was more than happy about was that the room 404 in the E building _actually existed_.

"Success 404 found!"

"Ugh, you did _not_ just say that."

Only a little squeak slipped out of her mouth when she heard behind her the deep and grunting voice of the person who commented on her – if she was going to be honest with herself – poorly timed dad joke. She had only met him twice but, weirdly enough, his voice was easily recognizable to her, as if she had known it for a longer time... or as if she had looked forward to meeting him again at school ever since she met him... or as if she just had a good auditory memory. That was a tricky multiple choice question she wasn't ready to answer, probably because it hadn't crossed her mind yet.

She could hear him closing the distance between them, his footsteps getting a tiny bit louder every second. He was now right behind her, and Levy didn't even move an inch as she examined his shadow on the floor. His hair seemed to be as long as the last time she met him at the supermarket. She didn't know how he could let his hair grow that way without going nuts over how much time it must take to take care of it. She got startled and blinked as the shadow moved. Her acquaintance behind her crossed his arms and hissed a toothy smirk.

"Yo, shorty, didn't know you were into geeky jokes. Guess ya learn something everyday huh."

Her whole face twitched. That was it. This comment was too much. Her? Into geeky jokes?! No way in hell was she going to let that slide. She stepped forward and turned around to have a better look at him.

Surprise swept her off her feet, almost literally, actually. She nearly tripped as she turned around and noticed his outfit. He had a leather pair of skinny pants which fit him particularly well despite his large yet firm legs. A simple black t-shirt and an unbuttoned black shirt adorned his fairly toned upper body. The unbuttoned black shirt was the part that stroke her the most, it really highlighted how burly and in shape he was.

He looked like a rising rock star.

But _that_ was not the matter at hand at this moment. She internally slapped the rather sultry thought away and put her offended and mildly angry (but inevitably cute) face on.

"Okay, Gajeel! First of all, my name is not shorty; it's Levy. And second of all, I am _absolutely not_ into geeky jokes!" She seemed to be more offended about the latter point than the former.

Gajeel sarcastically held his hands up and laughed. "Wow, no need to be on the defensive short stuff, it's gettin' even more obvious that you like 'em," he sassed, "not judgin' though, everybody's got their own sense of humour."

His trademark laugh grew louder as her face got redder. She knew this kind of thing would happen someday but the last person she wanted it to happen with was Gajeel Redfox. Sure, she had met him only twice before but they definitely argued a lot, and she was aware that he had a lot of fight in him. He knew how to talk back. How annoying... yet how fun.

She managed to shake her head hard enough to make the thought of her having fun bickering with Gajeel like an old married couple fly away. That was _not_ happening, ever.

"I swear it's not that, it's just that-"

He quirked an eyebrow and was ready hiss another snide remark, but seeing that, Levy cut him off before he had the chance.

"Ugh, anyway!" she exclaimed, and both his eyebrows raised in astonishment. "What are you doing here?" she asked, even though the answer was quite obvious, which was something she realized only right after asking the question. _What's wrong with me,_ she thought.

He squinted his eyes in disbelief. "Really? Everyone's first day of high school? Doesn't ring a bell?"

She bit her tongue and internally facepalmed. She made a mental note to stop asking stupid questions with obvious answers, especially if the one answering was to be Gajeel.

"Y-yeah, right," she stuttered, trying to find a way to change the subject, "hum... which room do you have to be in?" she asked, genuinely curious this time.

There it was, his toothy smirk again. "404, the one you successfully found, Levy Macbook."

Levy's eyes widened, that was a nickname she was _not_ expecting. Her dad would have laughed a lot at this, and to be honest with herself, she would have too if she wasn't so stubborn.

"Okay, my name is Levy McGarden and I'd like you to..." She stopped and rubbed her eyes out of annoyance. "We're in the same class, huh?"

"You got that right," he answered simply, "small world, isn't it?"

"It is indeed," she sighed in relief, seeing that he had no comeback to hit her with.

"Not as small as you though."

 _Sigh._

That was enough social interaction for such an early morning, so Levy just decided to shake this one off and focus on what she initially wanted to do before this rude interruption. She turned her back to him.

"Anyway, time to go in now," she said simply. Gajeel was surprised by how nonchalantly she dodged his snide remark but he didn't pay much attention to it, he was just happy to have had the last laugh.

Levy pulled the door towards her to open it. The first thing she noticed were not the new pupils that had already sat down on a chair or a table, not the lack of a teacher in front of the blackboard, and definitely not the open window that gave the room the fresh air it needed; the first thing she noticed was a black glove that fell on the ground right in front of her the moment she walked in.

Since she was wearing a dress, she squatted to pick it up, and noticed a pair of espadrilles walking towards her. As if sentient, they stopped the moment she looked at it. As she got back up, she noticed the person's long blonde hair and her mostly pink and white dress. Levy was not really into these colours, but she couldn't deny that this dress was beautiful.

Now fully standing up, one thing was striking. This unknown person with the beautiful dress was even smaller than her, which was not something she thought she would find in high school. And a second thing was even more striking, this small person was definitely holding a ruler and she was definitely pointing it in Levy's direction with intense fury in her eyes.

"Levy McGarden!" she shrieked, "You have picked up my glove, which means you have accepted my challenge to a duel!"

"Eh?"

"I, Mavis Vermillion, will take you on! Prepare thyself!"

"Eeeeeeh?!"

 _Stupid Gajeel and now this? What the hell is going on?!_

* * *

 **A/N: I felt so good writing this, I hadn't written anything in months and I'm surprised how well this went. I had so much fun writing this xD. Well, I hope this comeback wasn't too much of a disappointment x). Please let me know what you felt abot this one! :)**


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